동성애자에 대한 범죄도 증오범죄로 인정하는 법안을 의결한 미연방하원

(U.S. House passes bill to add attacks on gays to hate crime law)

미연방하원은 증오범죄의 범위를 확대하여 동성애자에 대한 범죄나 성별(gender)을 이유로 한 범죄도 증오범죄에 포함하기로 하였다.

하원에서 찬성 237, 반대 180으로 의결된 법안은 편견에 기인한 범죄에 대하여 연방법의 집행을 용이하게 할 것으로 전망된다. 유사한 내용의 법안이 상원에서 진행되고 있는데, 부시 대통령의 거부권 행사에 직면할 것으로 보인다.

연방법상 증오범죄(Hate crimes)는 인종, 종교, 국적에 동기를 둔 폭행에 적용된다. 표결은 증오범죄의 범위를 확장하자는 민권(civil rights) 단체와 이 법안이 동성애자에 대한 도덕적 반대를 표현할 자유를 침해할 여지가 있다고 주장하는 보수단체 간의 치열한 로비활동이 있은 후 있었다.

백악관은 주법률 및 자치단체의 법률이 이미 이 법에서 보호하고자 하는 범죄를 다루고 있기 때문에 별도로 이러한 행위를 연방범죄로 처벌할 필요성을 느끼지 않는다고 말했다.

이 법안에 반대하는 Smith 의원은 “우리 형사법제는 모든 사람이 평등하다는 원칙에 근거하고 있다. 이 법안에 따르면 모든 사람들이 평등한 것이 아니라, 인종, 종교, 성적 취향 등에 따라 정의가 달리 해석될 소지가 있다.”라고 말했다.

미연방하원 법률은 증오범죄에 성적 취향, 성별, 장애(disability)에 근거한 범죄를 포함하고, 증오범죄의 수사에 연방수사기관에 보다 광범위하게 관여할 여지를 부여하고 있다. 이 법안은 증오범죄의 수사에 1000만달러의 예산지출을 다음 해 2개년 동안 승인하고 있다.

연방수사기관은 각 주 수사기관이 수사하기를 꺼려하거나 할 능력이 되지 않는 경우에 증오범죄의 수사에 참여할 수 있도록 하고 있다. 동성애자그룹인 The Human Rights Campaign인 연방수사기관의 참여는 동성애로 인한 범죄 수사에 많은 도움을 줄 수 있을 것이라고 말했다.

그러나, Dobson 박사는 이 법안의 진정한 의도는 동성애에 대한 도덕적, 성경적 우려를 표현하고자 하는 사람들에게 재갈을 물리는 것이라고 비판하고 있다.

미연방하원 법제사법위원회(Judiciary Committee)는 FBI 수치를 인용하면서, 인종에 기인한 범죄가 55%, 종교에 기인한 범죄가 17%, 성적 취향에 기인한 범죄가 14%, 민족에 기인한 범죄가 14%라고 한다.

U.S. House passes bill to add attacks on gays to hate crime law

(AP) - WASHINGTON-The U.S. House voted to expand federal hate crime categories to include violent attacks against gays and people targeted because of gender, acting just hours after the White House threatened a veto.

The legislation, passed 237-180, also would make it easier for federal law enforcement to take part in or assist local prosecutions involving bias-motivated attacks. Similar legislation is also moving through the Senate, setting the stage for a possible veto showdown with President George W. Bush.

"This is an important vote of conscience, of a statement of what America is, a society that understands that we accept differences," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Hate crimes under current federal law apply to acts of violence against individuals on the basis of race, religion, color, or national origin. Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction only if the victim is engaged in a specific federally protected activity such as voting.

Representative Barney Frank, the only openly gay man in the House, presided over the chamber as the final vote was taken.

The vote came after fierce lobbying from opposite sides by civil rights groups, who have been pushing for years for added protections against hate crimes, and social conservatives, who say the bill threatens the right to express moral opposition to homosexuality and singles out groups of citizens for special protection.

The White House said state and local criminal laws already cover the new crimes defined under the bill and there was "no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement."

It also noted that the bill leaves other classes, such as the elderly, the military and police officers, without similar special status.

"Our criminal justice system has been built on the ideal of equal justice for all," said Representative Lamar Smith, top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. "Under this bill justice will no longer be equal, but depend on the race, sex, sexual orientation, disability or status of the victim."

Republicans, in a parliamentary move that would have effectively killed the bill, tried to add seniors and the military to those qualifying for hate crimes protection. It was defeated on a mainly party-line vote.

The House bill would extend the hate crimes category to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability and give federal authorities greater room to participate in hate crime investigations. It would approve $10 million (euro7.3 million) over the next two years to help local law enforcement officials cover the cost of hate crime prosecutions.

Federal investigators could step in if local authorities were unwilling or unable to act. The Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest gay rights group, said this federal intervention could have made a difference in the case of Brandon Teena, the young transsexual depicted in the movie "Boys Don't Cry" who was raped after two friends discovered that he was biologically female and then murdered after local police did not arrest those responsible.

But Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, warned that the true intent of the bill was "to muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality." If you read the Bible in a certain way, he told his broadcast listeners, "you may be guilty of committing a 'thought crime.'"

The Judiciary Committee cited FBI figures that there have been more than 113,000 hate crimes since 1991, including 7,163 in 1995. It said racially motivated bias accounted for 55 percent of those incidents, religious bias for 17 percent, sexual orientation bias for 14 percent and ethnicity bias for 14 percent.